2005 K-State Undergraduate Lecture Series in Mathematics
Lectures by four alumni, an actuary, a visiting professor, a career placement officer, and three of our faculty and staff were the highlights of the 2005 Undergraduate Lecture Series in Mathematics at Kansas State University.John Elbl, classes of '95 and '97, gave a presentation entitled Catastrophic management in the insurance industry in which he described how insurance companies manage their exposure to properties that are susceptible to natural catastrophes such as hurricane Andrew. John said that the most sought after skill of potential aggregation modelers is the ability to recognize and solve problems akin to those in higher level math courses such as abstract algebra, topology, and number theory. John is catastrophic aggregation manager for Zurich Insurance Company of North America and works in Chicago.
Mark Lesperance, classes of '90 and '91, gave A delicious introduction to auto rates in which he used M & M's to illustrate the problems actuaries face in setting auto insurance rates. Mark also described the actuarial profession in some detail. Mark is a casualty actuary working for Farm Bureau Insurance in Manhattan.
Bruce Merrill, classes of '01 and '03, described A strategy for 3-D modeling challenges in which he presented a simple visual motion display to illustrate tracking in confined spaces. Bruce showed how math was an indispensible tool for his research in mechanical engineering. Bruce is an instructor at Tulsa Community College.
Mark Norfleet, class of '04, explained How a group theorist "spells" surface and graph and gave some colorful examples of the use of jargon in math. Mark also addressed some Questions about the genus of powers in a free group. Mark is now a graduate student in math at the University of Texas at Austin.
Jim Rowland visited Kansas State and talked about Mathematics...and a whole lot more: careers in property and casuality actuarial science. Jim is a senior actuary and product manager for Allstate Insurance Company in Northbrook, Illinois.
Roger Bey visited Kansas State and gave a lecture on Careers and graduate studies for math majors. Roger is chairman of the department of finance and operations management at the University of Tulsa.
Charles Eaton visited Kansas State and described The officer candidate program. Charles is a career placement officer for the United States Army.
David Auckly spoke on Undergraduate research at K-State. Marianne Korten spoke on How to be the best math student you can be. David and Marianne are professors of mathematics at K-State. Karl Kandt spoke on The career fair, internships, and co-op work experiences. Karl Is assistant director of career and employment services at K-State.